Jobs lost as fencing manufacturer fails

Citadel Security Products Ltd, based in Telford, Shropshire, had made its name manufacturing fences, handrails and gates.

Perhaps most notably the company had worked with Heathrow Airport, although its range of security fences was also exported to clients in other countries.

Other customers included the cruise missile site at RAF Greenham, GCHQ and the Chernobyl nuclear facility in Ukraine.

But despite a number of high-profile transactions, business had increasingly been hampered by a surplus of mesh fencing being bought from the continent and the company’s turnover had dropped from £6.6million to £5.2million in recent years. At the same time, overheads had remained at much the same level.

In the face of these challenges, a recovery plan had been put in place and the firm had even bought a manufacturing operation in Sheffield, but directors’ efforts to turn the business around were ultimately unsuccessful.

The closure, confirmed this week, will mean the loss of more than 30 jobs.

Administrators said that Citadel’s directors were involved in other business ventures and may be in a position to offer alternative employment to some of those who have found themselves out of work.

Since the premises are owned by one of the directors, as opposed to the firm itself, it is expected that they will be put on the market fairly imminently.